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A Twist of Citrus

Today I paid the so-called Apple geniuses a visit to see about that musical hiss I discovered yesterday, when I opened my brand new iPad 2. Now, since I had it mailed to me, I had the opportunity to get free engraving done. I opted to put a short quote from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland that I've been enjoying lately.

It's no use going back to yesterday
I was a different person then.

It's an idea that Carroll plays with a number of times throughout the story of Alice. Alice even remarks "I am not myself today," at one point, implying that she must, in fact not be "Alice" at all. Absurd, yes, but Wonderland's very foundations rest upon the very idea that absurdities are a useful tool for learning.

I like that idea. I especially like the nuance of the quote I chose to have engraved. It shares an affinity with the oft touted mantra: "Live for Today," it also echoes a central idea in Christianity. The idea that we as humans are not bound to forever repeat ourselves and our mistakes and shortcomings throughout our miserable lives. We have the ability to choose how we live. We can choose to obey or to not obey. We can choose to follow the rules or declare them unjust. More importantly, though, we are not slaves to our vices. Nor are we slaves to Depression. Every single day is a gift we have been given; a chance to change ourselves and our surroundings a tiny bit in the right direction. Those changes have a cumulative effect over time.

Anyway, this is all very deep sounding, but suffice it to say I like the quote a lot and as such it seemed appropriate that I name the iPad "Alice". This also fits in very well with a long running tradition I have of naming my electronic devices after mythical characters.

The real point of all of this is to say I find the whole situation full of dramatic irony. It only seems fitting that the iPad I had engraved with a message speaking to our chance at everyday renewal should only last one day with me before being replaced with a completely new iPad. Problem solved, no more hiss...but now Alice is a Stepford wife. I do feel a little bit creepy naming this one Alice as well, and it doesn't even have the engraving anymore. So, I think I've settled on "Arisu," Which is the Japanese phonetic translation of her name.